Declan Donnelly has broken his silence following best friend Ant McPartlin’s drink driving arrest – explaining he will be taking to the stage of Saturday Night Takeaway solo.

Breaking his silence, Dec posted a statement on social media which read: ‘Whilst I never thought I’d be in this position, after much discussion and careful consideration we’ve decided that the remaining two shows of this series of Saturday Night Takeaway will go ahead.

‘We made a promise to take hundreds of deserving winners to Florida to watch the series finale, and we will honour that.

‘Everyone at ITV and the Takeaway team feels we owe it to the audience to complete the series. Dec x.’